Russian villages and small towns must disappear. Gazprom's top manager appealed to Putin.

Megacities of the future

The first deputy general director of the Russian "Gazprom", Ilya Kozlov, stated that Russia's future depends on the development of megacities and it is necessary to stop spending funds on saving dying small cities and villages. He stated this at the construction forum 100+.

«Urban-type settlements, single-industry towns, satellite cities will die. What we saw today on many platforms – are proposals and concepts for the development of more organized agglomerations, but definitely not small towns. We simply don't have the human resources for this. The state at this point needs to draw a line and stop saving them. These are huge investments, huge infusions, and today the state has to make a choice. We are developing some agglomeration that contributes to the development of production in one point, or we are dragging along another 5-7 towns that are conditionally dying», – said Kozlov.

Kozlov proposes conducting an inventory of such towns and providing funding only to towns with a population of over 50 thousand people, where there is development and population growth.

According to British intelligence data, Gazprom's revenues fell by 30% in 2023 due to Russia's military actions against Ukraine and deteriorating relations with the West. This led to the company's record losses in the last 25 years.